Good versus Bad Reviews?

SenseiSteve

SenseiSteve

HD Moderator
Staff member
I'm curious what your take is on how reviews effect organic SEO SERPS versus Conversions? Obliviously, bad reviews are never good, but taken in the context of hundreds of good reviews, shouldn't affect SEO rank or conversions. My query really is whether Google factors in the star ratings to determine higher or lower positions, or does the sheer volume of reviews count more favorably?

Take for example a company with an average of 3.5 stars over 7 reviews versus a company with an average of 3 stars spread over 92 reviews.

Company two is clearly more "engaged," but does that matter?
 
Logically speaking the star rating should not matter as one company is clearly much more established, whatever the reputation. If this was not the case than it would be pretty easy to gather a few perfect ratings and dominate the results. Or the larger companies should suffer as you know that with the more popularity come the more nay-sayers.

Whichever the case I think its a factor with such a low importance that the difference in results will be neglectable. :rolleyes2
 
Rado_Ch said:
Logically speaking the star rating should not matter as one company is clearly much more established, whatever the reputation. If this was not the case than it would be pretty easy to gather a few perfect ratings and dominate the results. Or the larger companies should suffer as you know that with the more popularity come the more nay-sayers.

Whichever the case I think its a factor with such a low importance that the difference in results will be neglectable. :rolleyes2
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I'm curious if there's been any split testing to determine just how much of a factor reviews are worth to SERPS ranking. Google has been pushing the 'engagement' factor for years.
 
Reviews are something that can be manipulated so it won't affect the rankings but yes, it can be a reason to drop sales ratio.
 
Bad reviews are really bad, no matter how you try to manipulate.

Users will just google a keyword on google, and they won't worry to read all the literature written there.

Their first impression is what really matters to them.
 
Well, this is a controversila question - who would like to get bad reviews, right? However, this is a reality that we need to agree and live with. And so far, I see some advantages of bad reviews as well:

1) It shows you what are the spheres that you still need to improve;
2) It might be a good opportunity to show your clients that you care - solve their problems and communicate with them.

However, the biggest disadvantage is that if you handle with those bad reviews not in a right direction - it might easily destroy your reputation which will end up in losing customers.

Well good reviews at one point creates the trust of your brand. But the biggest risk is to fall asleep as you think that everythings works just fine and do nothing more to even increase this trust built.
 
I think google give +1 for bad reviews on google search. I mean If you search "example company reviews" then google will show bad review on #1 page and then show positive review.

Maybe google rank website by "bad word" like "no response, bad support..etc."
 
It does matter. It shows not only it is engaged, but it also shows that they care about their customers. Reviews can be induced in case a company comunicates with their clients and they can expect that they will be delivered with an answer. Also, when you talk, it is natural that not every answer is satisfying, so the number of bad reviews also increases, so take this in count.
 
3rd party websites reviews can be counted has 70% fake. Majority of the reviews are filled by web hosting companies. Only few true reviews are given by the clients based on their own interest.

Google giving priority based on the reviews of each domain or websites will lead to misleading of best searches. The visitor has to become more active before choosing misled results.
 
In the hosting industry, reviews are something that can make you rule the industry or make you close the business. There is a possibility of getting manipulated reviews but as only handful of review sites are having better hold in market, it is hard to get fake reviews which is a good point. You get what you give is something that completely applies now.
 
I don't think that people believe the reviews completely. Sure, they take a look, but we all know that reviews can be manipulated. I believe that reviews on forums can be trusted more.
 
cwvps said:
I don't think that people believe the reviews completely. Sure, they take a look, but we all know that reviews can be manipulated. I believe that reviews on forums can be trusted more.
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There are plenty of people that go around posting fake reviews on forums too!
 
cwvps said:
I believe that reviews on forums can be trusted more.
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you check any forum and you will find review wise 90% will be negative reviews as most people will only post on a forum if they have had a bad experience. then you have forums like WOT who is full of people who will just badmouth a website/host even if they have never visited your site or had any dealings with you.

i once had one on siteadvisor saying they had bad shopping experience on every domain i had registered. even on domains that i had never set up a site on.

i terminated a client for no payment, this client then posted false neg reviews on many forums, even threatened to DDos my server if i did not give him my servers login details, even set up a site on a free domain attacking hosts and then demanding £25 for the comments to be removed.

so a host may have 100 clients and only 1 has a bad experience, so they post a neg review on a forum, so people see that review and decide they are a bad host.
 
easyhostmedia said:
you check any forum and you will find review wise 90% will be negative reviews as most people will only post on a forum if they have had a bad experience. then you have forums like WOT who is full of people who will just badmouth a website/host even if they have never visited your site or had any dealings with you.

i once had one on siteadvisor saying they had bad shopping experience on every domain i had registered. even on domains that i had never set up a site on.

i terminated a client for no payment, this client then posted false neg reviews on many forums, even threatened to DDos my server if i did not give him my servers login details, even set up a site on a free domain attacking hosts and then demanding £25 for the comments to be removed.

so a host may have 100 clients and only 1 has a bad experience, so they post a neg review on a forum, so people see that review and decide they are a bad host.
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This is true, sadly. People who are satisfied or just don't have complaints won't bother going back to the forum and giving you a review. Sometimes they will, but those who aren't satisfied will go straight to the forum asking and demanding something there. I don't understand why they don't deal with the provider through an email or a live chat. Somehow I still believe this depends on the forum and the specific community. If the rest of the community doesn't support these individuals, they stop.
 
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